The little man with the awesome teeth!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of them doing the xrays, cause he did such an amazing job and it looked kind of hilarious.

Yeah, I’m that mom. When my kid is freaked out about getting an xray, I stand back and laugh. I’m definently a “laugh first, check to see if you’re okay second” type of mom.

Poor kids.

Side note… Joey got to pick one toy. And out of all the things he could have picked (cars, balls, etc.) he picked a small, plastic hourglass. You know, like the ones that come with Pictionary. Yeah….

I’m kind of weird, in case you haven’t guessed. Okay, not kind of. A lot weird. For instance, I don’t read the way normal people read. Most people can grab a book and sit down in a library or curl up on the couch in a quiet house with some tea in hand and read away.

Not me.

I’ve always needed some kind of noise to read: people talking, the TV on, music in the background. For some strange reason, needing to block out noise helps me focus and I can then absorb the information. The more boring and complex the book, article or essay, the more chaos I need to actually HEAR the words.

In college whenever I had to read something dry and dull like Economics or Government, I’d show up early to a basketball game and read chapters during the warm-up. That worked perfectly. I could get my homework in and then have fun by watching basketball.

But this little issue of mine made it impossible for me to take reading comprehension tests. The actual testing method contradicts my strange process of absorption and comprehension.

First, you must read boring material—and several blocks, not just one—in a fast amount of time in total silence, except for the blasted, ticking clock. Of course you can hear the clock eating away at your grades, dragging you closer and closer to an F or a dunce cap with each deafening second. Then you must answer questions to prove you can read those boring tidbits, but you can’t really READ said paragraphs because that’s NOT how you read. Awesome!

In Third Grade, they even stuck me in Special Ed because they were concerned about my “inability to comprehend”, but being 8, I couldn’t explain that the test just didn’t work for me. If I could have had a walkman and no dripping hourglass, I would have aced the test every time. I’ve never had a problem comprehending anything, aside from maybe medical jargon or legalese. Noise is just a necessity for me and not just with reading.

Now, I require some kind of background noise while penning a novel to keep straight and finish off my various threads. Being a just-wing-it girl rather than an outliner, music helps me to stay focused and on track. And often times, music feeds my fire and drive as well.

Here are a few of the songs that I found inspiration in while penning Sapphire Reign—which I’m close to wrapping up.

Field of Innocence by Evanescence. This completely encompasses my storyline and tone. If I can acquire the rights for a reasonable cost, I want to use this song for my long trailer.

When the Children Cry by White Lion.

Another Brick in the Wall (Here’s part 2) by Pink Floyd.

Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis

So, when you’re writing do you prefer the silence of a snowy day or some kind of noise like music, TV or people talking? And do you find inspiration in music? Just wondering.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

[Peter] thought of a creative, way to generate random entropy for under $100.

The USB Hourglass combines a sand timer with a rotating mechanism and an optical beam through the center of the timer to observe the falling sand. The amount of light reaching a detector is digitized at frequent intervals and processed by a microcontroller to determine when to rotate the hourglass. The digitized light levels are also sent by USB to a host PC where they can be used as a source of random entropy. Power is supplied over the USB cable.

With the USB Hourglass, the user can look at the sand falling through the center of the hourglass and monitor the randomness in the USB output data. And one can read the code line-by-line, compile it, and upload it to the microcontroller using only open-source and widely supported tools.

At the end of the day, ask yourself: who was I today?

I wonder how many times your answer may be different; from day to day. Some people let their day define them: “I had a good day, I am happy”. Though the opposite is just as common.

We depend upon time so heavily, whether or not something happens in one moment or the next holds more importance to us than much else. Each individual day may define us, each chunk of twenty four hours represents us for that time.

Like grains of sand, the days come together to form a pile of who we are. It’s never defined by one single day, it is by the compilation of all time.

We can never  tell exactly the moment a collection of grains of sand become a pile. We don’t know how many days it takes to call it life. But somewhere inbetween there is that eventual realization of a life lived, and a pile made.

But life isn’t an hourglass.

We aren’t limited. There is no rule saying how long we are going to live, or how much living we have to do, or what makes a day good or bad.
We choose those things.

What will you choose?

I started this project in 2007.

Originally, it was a small cover up.

I feel like there are so many things I would have done differently had I known then what I know now, but overall he is a great client with a lot of patience and we are both so happy this is finally finished.

… for you!  Lots of um!   And don’t they go well with these generous gifts from Aqua, Doux Couture, SHIKI, Hourglass and INDI?

Click for larger view

 And because I worked hard on those sculpted accessories, I’m going to show you a close up of the pirate boots. 

Click for larger view

Details

Skin – Cupcakes Sweetheart Copper Cleavage Group Gift 11/3
Hair – Fri.day  Dylan -Thoughtful Brown (on sale 75L  now)

Outfit 1  AQUA Basic Needs Plaid 3 Advent Gift Free (yesterday, no longer available)
Shoes 1  Duh!  Snow Booties White for the DTCH
Outfit 2  Doux Couture  Obscure Layers Dress Coal for the DTCH
Scarf 2 SHIKI Winter Scarf – purple for the DTCH
Tights 2 – Former hunt gift from Duh!
Shape 2 Hourglass “Curio Winter Shape” for DTCH
Shoes 2  Duh!  Big Buckled Boots White for the Frostbitten Hunt
Outfit 3  INDI – Donna – Advent Gift
Shoes 3  Duh!  Women’s Pirate Boot for the Black Pearls Hunt
Poses Flowey

Book 2 of Seven in the Incarnation Series
1 On a Pale Horse : Death
–> 2. Bearing an Hourglass : Time
3. With a Tangled Skein : Fate
4. Wielding a Red Sword : War
5. Being a Green Mother : Nature
6. For Love of Evil : Satan
7. And Eternity : God

TYPE: Fantasy

RATING: 8/10

REVIEW:

After reading the first one in the series, I was much too fascinated to stop reading the second one. This one just took me a couple of days to read through.

This book is about a simple guy called Norton who gets acquainted with a ghost called Gawain. Gawain wants Norton to sire his heir by getting ‘acquainted’ with his wife, Orlene. However, Fate has other plans, and he is hit by conscience which does not permit him to do it. He falls in love with Orlene and Orlene feels the same for him. Together they do sire the heir, but due to Gawain’s intervention, his son dies of a hereditary disease.

To make up for it, he leads Norton to a place, where he is then offered the office of one the Incarnations: Time.

After much consideration he does accept it and Satan picks him right at the outset to change the course of things through Time, literally. With much assistance from the other Incarnations, he is able to thwart Satan and his evil plans.

This one’s a good read, albeit a bit confusing.

As people liked yesterdays submission so much and to celebrate today’s door opening on our advent calendar. We our posting a follow up to yesterdays picture.

Click on the picture to go to our photo archive.

Kittie & Charlie

x

Door Number 8: Something every women should own

Dreamgirl Ursula Reversible Corset

Dreamgirl Plus Size Ursula Reversible Corset

I think every woman should own a Corset they make you feel wonderful; especially great for wearing when you are having a day when you are not feeling good about yourself. The tuck you sides in and give you a fantastic hourglass figure whatever size you are! I love wearing mine at this time of year for under sexy christmas dresses and sometimes just wear it out and about just to make me feel sexy, on those days when I dont, and ultimately more confident!

Not only is this Corset my favourite to wear out and about its also reversible with black side and a pink side. This means that if it is peaking out from under your clothes you can make it match with what you are wearing.

I have chosen this one as it’s a great starter Corset and great for you to get an understanding what a corset it and what it can do for you. I was quite intrigued about corsets but quite reluctant at first. Charlie gave me this one as a gift and once I had put it on and felt the confidence and I was convinced they were great and made me feel totally decadent.

You can purchase the Dreamgirl Ursula Reversibe Corset from Lovehoney and is available in sizes 32 to 44 as you should get one which matches your Bra size as the Corsets fit A to D cups. However if you are bigger than a D cup its recommended you go up a size. For offers or voucher codes available at Lovehoney take a look at our ‘Sexy Moneysaving’ page

Finally the great thing about Lovehoney is that the have 365 day free returns! So whenever we order from there we order a couple of sizes/styles then send the ones back that don’t fit.

Kittie and Charlie

x

by sylvia

The other day The Zaftig Chicks received an email from a gentleman asking us for advice.  “OH THANK YOU BABY JESUS, my lifelong dream of becoming an advice columnist is finally coming true,” I said to myself.  And anyone who happened to be within earshot.  But then Bianca rained on my parade full of unicorns and teddy bears and glitter and sparkles and pink, and did some research, and found that this same gentleman has sent or submitted the same exact question to several other sites.

So maybe it is trolly.  Or maybe this guy really needs help.  Regardless, we thought we would post it here to save him some time in posting it anywhere else and perhaps getting him the advice he needs.

So please, don’t be shy – submit your suggestions for or thoughts on our anonymous boy in the comments!

Dear Zaftig Chicks,

I stumbled upon your blog and thought you might have some good insight on this.  I met a really attractive and intelligent woman at a party a few weeks ago. It was a public event at an art gallery. She was a high school teacher in her early thirties. We had been talking for a good half hour and really seemed to be hitting it off. We had even made tentative plans to meet for coffee sometime.

Then, things suddenly went downhill. I commented that she had a “nice, full, hourglass figure”. I thought she would take it as a compliment but instead she became deeply offended. She snapped, “Oh really….well perhaps I should do some plus size modeling!” I went into damage control mode and tried to clarify my comments but I think I only exacerbated things when I used the term “healthy”. With a look of complete disgust, she slapped my face and departed.

I will never forget those agonizing moments in the immediate aftermath, as I was standing there alone rubbing my cheek, drawing some judgemental stares from onlookers. Needless to say, it was not my proudest moment, LOL.

She had the classic figure of a 50’s pinup – large bust, narrow waist, shapely hips/legs. I guess she had interpreted “hourglass” as meaning big/overweight/full figured. I just thought it meant shapely and well proportioned.

When I told a female friend about this she shook her head and said it was never a good idea to comment on a woman’s figure, even if I thought it was complimentary. What do you think about this?

So before I start sharing some of fashion insight with you ladies, its very important to KNOW your body. This is critical in understanding how to dress yourself. The common categorization for body types is the following :

Pear

Apple

Hourglass

Banana/Ruler/Pencil

Now, how do you figure out which one you are?  Walk to the nearest full length mirror. Take off your clothes , stand in front of the mirror in your underwear, look at yourself. Turn around and look at yourself again. What do you see?

If you have a bigger bust than your hips then you are an apple. An apple shape will have a full bust and waist coming down to hips that are smaller. Most of the time apples will have beautiful slim legs! Celebrities who are apples include: Drew Barrymore, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dolly Parton and Liz Hurley.

If you find that your hips are considerably larger than your waist/bust then you are a pear! Most of the time your pant size will be 2 sizes larger than your top size. Celebrities who are pear shaped include : Shakira, Beyonce, Mischa Barton, Hayden Panettiere, and Jennifer Lopez.

If you have a bust size that is almost equal to your hip size then congraulations, you are an hourglass shape! An hourglass shape is characterized by a medium to full bust, down to a small waist, that goes down to a rounded hip shape. Celebrities who are an hourglass shape include: Halle Berry, Scarlett Johansson, Marilyn Monroe, Bridget Bardot, and Salma Hayek.

If you have a lean and slender body with waist,hips, and bust measurements that are quite similar then you are a ruler! Although this is not a very common body type but it has been recently sensationalized by the media and is not more sought after than the iconic hourglass figure. Most ruler shaped women will have very thin arms and legs and tend to gain more weight around their stomach if they do. Celebrities who are ruler shaped include: Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kiera Knightley.

If you are petite or curvy you will still fall under one of those body types with a few modifications. If you are a curvy apple then you will have a larger bust than a regular apple. If you are a petite pear then you will have a petite frame with more rounded hips. The same rules for dressing apply, but there are more things to keep in mind. As an example, a petite pear will try to elongate her legs while at the same time dressing appropriately for her hip shape.

Ladies, please remember that although its a cliche, you are in fact ALL beautiful. Most celebrities have rather normal body shapes but they all look stunning. And you know why? Because they have a stylist who advises them on what to wear and what flatters their body shape the most. The good news is, now you have me! And with the knowledge that I will share with you, now you can all look like stars!

Photo by Alexis Rhone Fancher

She didn’t know I was holding her hand

or where she was or why. She was here but not here.

She was far away and yet holding on. I was holding

on, holding her, holding her cold, limp fingers in my hand,

holding all my fears wrapped around the fears she had now forgotten.

My need for her filled the room, pushing out all the air.

I stopped breathing, forced my breathing, breathing for both of us.

Could she slip away before she filled the hole, endless,

stretching to the darkness of the night that I slipped through from my rooftop one night,

as I searched for the angels that did not come.

I understood. Abandonment was my backyard where the flowers

refused to grow. A stench rose up instead and I ran from the foulness,

the putrid aroma clinging to my skin and permeating my marrow.

Channel no. 5 was her cure; mine, Coco Mademoiselle the starter, and

Black Orchid subbing in when needed.

I needed her.

The hour glass was clear, it didn’t matter.

Jacquelyn Gail

All Rights Reserved

© 2009

Shapes in a box of lucky charms

Graph by: Kidwii via Graph Jam Builder

In some older post of mine I was telling you why I actually started this blog, which was a sort of challenge, say the least. Couple of months later, I think I definitely won the challenge and I believe my proof ended spectacularly about the time I decided to make peace. Looking at the statistics, I noticed that this month is very underrepresented as compared to the others and I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily because I had many things to do, or more than the usual, but  it’s probably because whatever triggered this process is now blooming in reverse.

As I was telling you in that older post, I started with an anger to open all the doors out there, but the door problem is the following: you can open as many doors as you want, but once you move away from a door, your rejection won’t allow you to return, unless, of course, you are willing to do a compromise that in the end will not be worth it. You can only catch a glimpse of what’s behind each door and your judgment is rather subjective, being relative to what you have seen before. The idea is to step through the door that best matches your interests, your thoughts, your expected value, because there’s no turning back. The doors open in one direction only. There might be loops, but that’s a different story. The literature says that, if you know how many doors you are faced with, then you have a chance of about 37% to find the best one. I guess our existence is more general than that and we don’t really know when to call off the search. But that’s when something interesting happens. In a sunny day, all of a sudden, you open this door you’ve actually seen before, but which didn’t really catch your attention until now. You throw a glance inside and you see something that you really like. The odds are rather against you and at some point you’ll have to decide if you step on or through, but you can’t help feeling mesmerized of all the simple things behind it. Simple things that fall into a puzzle that actually makes sense and somehow the initial idea of finding ‘the best’ becomes rather irrelevant. The hourglass will do its job, while you are looking at your mirror image through the door and there’s yet time, all the time in world.

Have You Seen Smallville: Season 1 Episode 6 – Hourglass?

Episode Synopsis:

Clark and Pete apply to community work in an institute for the aged to be close to Lana Lang who’s also volunteering there. Clark’s favorite patient is Cassandra Carver, a blind old lady that foretells the future, and who realizes that Clark is not from this world. Lana takes care of Harry Bollston, an unknown former murder. When Harry falls in a lake full of kryptonite nearby the institution, he becomes young again. The young Harry Volk then seeks revenge against the descendants of the members of the jury that sentenced him in the past by killing them. One of these descendants is Jonathan Kent. Meanwhile, Lex approaches Cassandra to ask her information about Clark, and she has a vision of disaster involving Lex.

So what do you think of this episode?

If you missed it, you can watch it here.

… 3 nouveautés sont venues enrichir ma “CDthèque”: les derniers albums de Transatlantic et de Hourglass, et l’avant dernier de Paradise Lost.

Transatlantic est ce qu’on appelle communément un super groupe composé de Neal Morse (ex Spock’s Beard) aux claviers et chant, Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) à la batterie, Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) aux guitares et Pete Trewavas (Marillion) à la basse. L’album s’intitule “The Whirlwind” et ne contient qu’une seule plage de près de 78 minutes mais divisée cependant en 12 parties distinctes. Leur précédent album date déjà de 2001. C’est aussi le 1er album que j’achète et j’avoue que c’est surtout la présence de Neal Morse et de Mike Portnoy qui m’a incité à acquérir ce genre de disque qui à priori semblerait un peu trop orienté rock progressif, et donc un trop soft à mon goût pour assouvir ma soif métallique. Mais (est-ce l’âge?), comme cela a déjà été le cas avec Knight Area le mois passé, quelques incursions dans un style moins heavy mais néanmoins très progressif me procurent également beaucoup de plaisir. Le plaisir d’avoir le sentiment d’être emporté dans un long et riche voyage musical aux multiples références aux années 60 (un peu avec les Beatles principalement sur le 2ème CD bonus avec la chanson Lenny Johnson) et surtout à l’âge d’or du rock progressif, les années 70.  La prestation des musiciens est évidemment impeccable et la production vraiment irréprochable.  Un album qui pourrait prétendre au titre d’album du mois de novembre mais attendons un peu les prochaines sorties…

Hourglass est un groupe US de métal progressif ayant à son actif 4 albums dont le dernier “Oblivious To The Obvious” est sorti en ce début d’année 2009 mais a seulement débarqué chez mon disquaire la semaine passée. En effet, c’est un album totalement autoproduit et qui n’était disponible jusqu’alors que via leur site internet du groupe grâce au système PayPal puisqu’ils n’ont pas de label.

De bout en bout, l’album qui comprend 2 CDs et s’étale sur près de 140 minutes, est superbement réalisé. Le travail de chaque instrument, et principalement de la basse est remarquable de maîtrise. L’atmosphère se dégageant de cet album peut être tantôt puissante et lourde comme sur le premier morceau “On The Brink”, tantôt mélancolique et mélodieuse comme sur “Homeward Bound”. Les ambiances sont donc très fouillées et variées. Nous avons même droit à de l’acoustique avec une guitare hispanisante sur la 3ème plage du 1er CD: “Pawn II”.

Je vous invite vraiment à découvrir cet album. Il n’est certes pas évident d’accrocher au début,  mais il se révèlera certainement petit à petit à vos oreilles au fur et à mesure des écoutes.

Quant à Paradise Lost, l’achat de leur dernier album m’a incité à également découvrir leur galette précédente sachant que celle-ci s’avérait dans le même style et même supérieure selon les chroniques de certains webzines. Et je ne démentirai pas effectivement. J’ai une préférence pour cet album “In requiem”.

It’s the waiting game. The hourglass is turned. Dreary eyed, staring at the shadows from the blue light of the windows. The hourglass turns. Fingers stretch, a shiver, curling up in your chair to retain some warmth. The hourglass turns once again. It takes a long time to load Word.

Haider Ackermann Spring 2010 RTW. Photo by Marcio Madeira.

As much as I enjoy watching everything that comes down the runway each season, the pieces I like the best are usually at the end of each show: the dresses. They’re the ones you see on the red carpet at the awards shows-the dresses that make you feel like a princess (at least that’s what I think it would feel like). If you watch the Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo, this is when her trademark phrase, “I die!” comes out the most and stars like Kate Hudson, Eva Mendes , and Anne Hathaway turn to Zoe for her brilliant and beautiful advice. But I’m getting off topic- this column isn’t about Rachel Zoe- it’s about the dresses.

The Spring 2010 RTW season saw a new crop of these envy-inducing, replica inspiring designs. It was interesting to watch the range of colors, from jewel tones to simple blacks and whites, and the shapes, from the classic empire (pronounced ohm-peer) silhouettes at Reem Acra, to the less traditional, free flowing designs at Valentino and Haider Ackermann.

Reem Acra Spring 2010 RTW. Photo by Marcio Madeira.

The hardest part about any dress, and anything in fashion, is finding the right shapes for your body type. If you’re pear-shaped, you want to balance your body shape by bringing attention to your upper half through details in the neckline or by choosing a shape that skims over your body, like this empire dress at Azzaro. Women with hourglass shapes should play up their curves with figure-hugging dresses like this number at Lela Rose,  and avoid shapes that drown your figure. Apple-shaped women should stick to simple designs, and use belts, or dresses with a cinched waist to create a smaller waistline and elongate the torso, like this lovely Luca Luca dress, The smart ruffles around the lower half of the body lend shape where “Apples” are usually lacking, while the belt draws observers eyes away from a broad top.

If you’ve got an event and are looking for ideas, or if you just want to drool like I do, I’ve picked out my favorites (there’s 90 of them!), so check the Photos section. I want to know what you think too, so send me ideas or photos of dresses that you think should be included, or any questions you may have! Happy Dressing!

What can I say Phantom Hourglass is a great game, probably one of the best on the DS, great job Nintendo! This is most definitely what a DS game shoukd be, great touch screen controls, which are used by dragging the stylus to run, and slashing the enenmies on screem to attack, as well as using your stylus to draw a path that your boomerang will follow. The characters are a lot of fun, and the fairy (Celia) isn;t otally annoying. There are things in this game that are not from the console Zelda games, like you can only habe one item equipped at a time, instead of three, I think. Amd you can’t talk to the fairy for advice,also some of the rupees are different. And I know I don’t usually talk about graphics but the graphics in this game are fantastic and very much resemble Wind Waker.

Great game go and check it out. I think the new Zelda in on the  DS “Spirit Traxks” will be a sequel to this game, it comes out on Dec. 7th, if you have a DS go but it.

MasterofStrings

(^_^)v Peace